Earlier this year when Digital DUMBO CEO Andrew Zarick met Mark Nagurski, Digital Champion of an organization called Digital Derry in Derry, Ireland, there was a mutual understanding our two organizations should collaborate. Mark traveled from Ireland to meet with Andrew in DUMBO, home to Brooklyn’s burgeoning tech community and our organization, Digital DUMBO. During their meeting, Andrew had the opportunity to tell Mark about how its organizers had gone about growing Digital DUMBO over the past few years. Mark elaborated on the topic of new ventures, explaining how Derry and Ireland in general had been on a tear as of late in the digital space and as a result of this growth, a conference called CultureTech was in the works. After having just completed Digital DUMBO’s inaugural dd:IMPACT conference, an event that explored how digital has disrupted, evolved, and progressed culture, it was a fitting conversation to be having.

Ireland isn’t the first place that springs to mind when talking about where the next wave of digital startups will break. However, Mark was quite convincing of the big things that are happening in Northern Ireland’s second largest city, and invited Andrew to travel to Derry to participate as a speaker in CultureTech.

This week Digital DUMBO is heading to Derry, Ireland to participate in CultureTECH, a four-day festival of all things digital. Part tech-media conference, part music and arts festival, the festival will blend work with play and encourage exploration and discovery across film, TV, animation, gaming, music, publishing, advertising and digital arts.

Over the past few months we've been hard at work re-imagining Digital DUMBO. What started as a 40 person social gathering almost four years ago in a small room in Dumbo, Brooklyn has organically grown into a global community of over 11,000 thought leaders in digital media, technology, and the broader creative class. We've recently adopted the mission of cultivating and connecting communities at the intersection of digital and culture. Creativity, ideas, and innovation are flourishing. We are in the midst of a movement. It's our goal to connect like-minded communities in geographic locations where digital and culture collide. Digital DUMBO and similar communities fuel the innovation ecosystem by providing a forum for people to share ideas, connect with one another, and acquire new knowledge. We believe in the importance of bi-directional flow of knowledge, talent, and innovation across these ecosystems. Today, we're proud to reveal the first major step towards this vision with the launch of a new community portal for Brooklyn. Our new web platform will power our events, do a better job of connecting people, and over time, have a much heavier focus on content. Now, you'll more easily be able to see who's attending upcoming Digital DUMBO events by searching for disciplines, companies, and skill sets. We'll soon be launching similar community portals for other cities around the world. You'll be able to telescope in and get to better know these communities and perhaps attend an event the next time you're in town. In the next few months we'll also be rolling out a new DigitalDUMBO.com and establishing an initiative set that extends beyond our monthly dd:SOCIAL event. We'll be focused on creating more high value events, media, content, knowledge-based programming, and exciting website features. We're seeking partners, both big and small, who are interested in getting to know our community and are interested in helping us bring our vision to light.